Portugal has nominated Carlos Moedas, who has been the country’s main negotiator on its international bailout, to be its member of the next European Commission.

The 44-year-old is currently secretary of state to Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho. One of his main responsibilities in the government has been negotiating with Portugal’s international creditors, known as the troika, and ensuring implementation of the terms of Portugal’s bailout.

It was believed that Passos Coelho was going to nominate Maria Luís Albuquerque, the finance minister, as Portugal’s commissioner.

There was speculation today in the Portuguese press that he did not do so because Juncker would not guarantee her a weighty portfolio in the Commission.

It was also suggested that nominating Albuquerque would have damaged the government’s image in Portugal. Her predecessor, Vítor Gaspar, left the government and became a director at the International Monetary Fund. Portuguese electors, the argument runs, would have been upset to see a second finance minister leave for an international role after forcing through painful reforms at the national level.

Moedas, who holds an MBA from Harvard University and worked for Goldman Sachs prior to entering politics, is considered a close ally of Passos Coelho (whose European Voice profile you can read here). Passos Coelho is considered a market liberal within the centre-right Partido Social Democrata.

As reported by European Voice, Moedas used a recent trip to Brussels to call on other eurozone member states to fulfil their promises to implement deep structural reforms, citing Portugal as a model.